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My sister died in agony from cancer. That is my last memory of her. The Fentanyl transdermal patches & any other pain meds were not enough. I know she would have chosen otherwise, given the opportunity.

I'm sorry to hear that. There's no reason why that should have to happen to anyone, especially in this day and age.

What I don't understand is WHY the medical establishment has a problem with allowing terminal patients the ability to dial up their morphine as needed. I know that such an increase can cause a reduction in respiration, and sometimes that leads to death. SO WHAT! If a person is already dying, can it be a bad thing to allow them to die free from pain, even if that means they die a week or two sooner than they would have? If that is their wish, so be it. What good can come from enduring another day, week, or month of intractable pain? Who are they the doctors and nurses there for? They are there to relieve the suffering of the sick. It's considered cruel to allow a dying animal to suffer in pain. Why should a person not be able to request and receive the same mercy?

I have a genetic lung disease that will eventually suffocate me. I fully intend to choose my own end when the time comes. I hope that my state gets it together and allows me to die with dignity and have my friends and family with me without fear of repercussions like the archaic threat of arrest for assisting a suicide.

What I don't understand is WHY the medical establishment has a problem with allowing terminal patients the ability to dial up their morphine as needed. I know that such an increase can cause a reduction in respiration, and sometimes that leads to death. SO WHAT! If a person is already dying, can it be a bad thing to allow them to die free from pain, even if that means they die a week or two sooner than they would have? If that is their wish, so be it. What good can come from enduring another day, week, or month of intractable pain? Who are they the doctors and nurses there for? They are there to relieve the suffering of the sick. It's considered cruel to allow a dying animal to suffer in pain. Why should a person not be able to request and receive the same mercy?

the myth that palliative care can always relieve suffering is just that - a myth. I've watched more than one family member die excruciating deaths from cancer all while in hospice. They cannot always reduce the pain enough for it to be manageable. And the medical community should not pretend otherwise.

My mother had several strokes and could no longer communicate. She spent most of her last years in round the clock care or then in a nursing home. Towards the end she would not stay still. She would walk to her bed, lay down for just a few brief minutes, and then back to the TV room with her walker. She fell several times and it was only a matter of time until she broke her hip - which she finally did. She was 91 in very frail health and the surgeons did not want to operate; they sent her to a hospice. Myself and three sisters were consulted; but these are hard decisions. Do you put somebody 91 through the pain of surgery when there is no prospect of recovery? Even if she could conceivably recover; would she simply keep walking until she fell again?

There is one other issue and I hate to even say it because it was not a consideration with our mother. In her last two years we spent over $300,000 on her care. How many have that kind of money available? Fortunately our parents had it. In my state, the nursing home can come after the surviving siblings for unpaid medical bills.

One other problem we had is that our mother had told us that she did not want that end. She said that before that happened she would end her life herself - but she could not foresee her stroke. That made the decisions we made even harder.

These are terrible gut wrenching decisions and it would be so much easier if our states allowed our doctors to help people cross over with a painless death. We treat our animals and criminals better than we treat ourselves. I am not trying to force physician assisted suicide on anybody. But we have that now with the hospice - doctors routinely allow their patients to starve and die of dehydration. They claim that they feel no pain - but they are not in the shoes of our loved ones. I was there and saw my mother's expression when she supposedly had no brain activity - I was sure she felt the pain of her broken hip.

Let us sign the documents that would allow physicians to painlessly end our lives when we are in sound mind - before the strokes or other terrible diseases. Give our physicians the one ultimate tool to end pain and suffering as our time nears an end. Humans should be compassionate enough to humanely treat other humans to a painless death on their terms.

PS Our father had preceded our mother and met almost the same end. To the OP I wish that nobody ever had to do it their selves. I wish that the law would help and that the medical establishment would grant a pain free death.

the myth that palliative care can always relieve suffering is just that - a myth. I've watched more than one family member die excruciating deaths from cancer all while in hospice. They cannot always reduce the pain enough for it to be manageable. And the medical community should not pretend otherwise.

Fair enough...how about make an ATTEMPT...and alleviate AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE? No one ever said painkillers are perfect...and in that case, I'd like to die by other means, assisted if necessary.

That said I wish that our state would allow physician assisted suicide like these six states: https://euthanasia.procon.org/view.r...ourceID=000132. While you want to take the means away from people in pain and suffering; why not help them? Your friend was smart enough to know his time was limited and he did not want to end his life in pain. This is what he wanted. Of course his friends and family did not want it; but he was more than aware of the ever increasing burden he would have placed on his family and he did not want to make them also suffer. He was prepared for the end and he took advantage of an opportunity when he could.

So you want to take our guns, cars, plastic bags or whatever away from us so we have to suffer until our last breath? Not all people wish to live out their last days in pain. For those with religious convictions or beliefs; let them chose to linger forever.

Your friend is no longer suffering and that should make those that loved him happy. He went out the way he wanted to go; don't hold that against him.

I could not have written it better. My thoughts exactly.

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